FINLAND
Northern lights: Finland is finally going to introduce a licensing system for gambling THE TRANSITION FROM A GAMBLING MONOPOLY TO A LICENSING SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY IN ITS EARLY STAGES IN FINLAND, HOWEVER, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE LICENSING SYSTEM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED AS EARLY AS JANUARY 1, 2025, SAYS ANTTI KOIVULA
Overview The state-owned gambling monopoly operator, Veikkaus, has not had a de facto monopoly online for years. Due to the tightening of responsible gambling features in Finnish legislation, which only affects Veikkaus, the company has lost its competitiveness in certain verticals. As a result, Veikkaus withdrew the support for its own monopoly last fall and has since been publicly advocating for a partial licensing system. With Veikkaus whispering in politicians’ ears and the fact that the state is losing a lot of money due to the monopoly system, politicians have been able to find a political agreement on the necessity of a change to the system in record time. Once the new government is formed following the parliamentary elections of April 2, 2023, and begins its work, the change to the licensing system is expected to be fast-tracked. This article sheds light on the circumstances that have led to the current situation
and anticipates the timeframe and features of the upcoming licensing system..
The absurdity of the existing Finnish gambling monopoly Currently, Veikkaus has the exclusive right to provide and market gambling services on mainland Finland. However, Finnish customers are legally allowed to use the services of foreign gambling operators, and it is also legal for foreign gambling operators to accept customers from Finland. What Finnish law prohibits is foreign operators advertising directed towards Finland, although many still do. On a practical level, the authorities have not had sufficient funding or the tools to intervene effectively, although the situation improved from their perspective with the Lotteries Act reform of 2022.
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IMGL MAGAZINE | APRIL 2023
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